Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Mitch Landrieu's Day Off

With a judge threatening to place him under house arrest on weekends,
Mayor Mitch Landrieu has taken to the airwaves, using radio ads to cast
the New Orleans firefighters union as intransigent in their dispute
with the city over back pay and pension benefits.

Landrieu’s administration is apparently still far from a deal with
the firefighters that would resolve a court judgment ordering the city
to pay $75 million in back wages and another $67 million in interest.

The mayor is asking Civil District Court Judge Kern Reese — who held
the mayor in contempt of court last week and threatened to impose house
arrest on him if the case isn’t resolved by Friday — to put the
contempt order on hold while he pursues an appeal.

Both sides met with a mediator Wednesday afternoon, but firefighter officials said nothing was resolved.

In an email to supporters titled “House Arrest,” the mayor said Wednesday that he is running a radio ad to explain his side of the case.

“Paying what the union demands — even over 10 years — would mean slashing funding to basic services like recreation and fixing potholes, property tax increases of nearly 10 percent or hundreds of layoffs,” Landrieu says in the ad. “I will not let us go backwards on all the progress we have worked so hard for.”

Yeah, this isn't going to accomplish anything. Dude is just gonna keep writing his Letter From A Broadmoor Living Room until the judge admits he just handed him a platform to keep grandstanding from. This can pretty much go on forever if they want it to. It actually already has.